The Christmas Tree key chain. Need to find a good engraving bit for aluminum, the back side is painted with chalkboard paint.
I use a 1/16" ball for engraving, works great!
i will definately try that as I happen to have one. I am not sure it is “FOR” aluminum though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-DEGREE-MICRO-CARBIDE-ENGRAVING-TOOLS-NIB-Kyocera-Microtools-Kyocera-MIT-/381446254239?hash=item58cff7ee9f:m:mrxqTx7ZK_cgXWtFwDbs6hA I use these for fine engraving and they have worked great for me so far.
In aluminum right? Wait, who am I talking to here, of course it is for aluminum. (if not let me know).
Always in aluminum my friends! Just take your cuts nice and easy and have had great results with them. They produce a very burr free engraving unlike most engraving bits folks tend to use.
Snapped one. One remaining. This weekend, I upgraded my aluminum mill to Gecko and got it calibrated. I really like how these Kyocera bits engrave! This machine flies, but now I have mysterious flexibility up and down in my Ebay Z-axis with lead screw unit. I have to take it apart to see if the z-nut is coming loose from the bearing block. I wish I could find a z-axis ballscrew unit like @EricDobroveanu 's! If anyone has a source, let me know.
you can find them used on ebay for about the same price as an ebay z-axis (also with ballscrew, so $150ish). This is the guy I bought mine from, he usually has a ton of CNC related stuff up there. He has OBO on most of his listings too.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/xyz_axis_cnc_2011?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754
My z axis unit (cheap one from Amazon), requires so many revolutions per minute it is painful. At 30 ipm I am losing steps periodically. Consequently, I snapped my last Kyocera etching bit. I just ordered a new $150 z with sealed, dust free bearings that is only 6 tpi/2 turns. STILL working out the kinks on SON OF X-CARVE.
Thanks again for your recommendations.
Yeah .166" pitch is a lot better, my ballscrews have a 5mm pitch. One nice thing about having a low pitch ( <= 5mm ) is that you can turn the microstepping way down, improving torque and reducing lost steps. Even at 2x microstepping I have about .0005" of precision (well within tolerances in my application). You should look over your microstepping settings, you can probably reduce the number of lost steps that way.
Let me know if you have any more questions, more than happy to answer!
Also, I’m building out the rest of Franken-Carve ( Y-axis ). I’ll have to rename it when its done, since there won’t be any x-carve parts other than the spindle mount/drag chains/limit switches.
I am not sure how to adjust the microstepping in the Gecko. I believe it is locked in at 1/10.
Do you have a model number? Microstepping is a common feature on drivers/controllers
Not on the Gecko. It is a G540. It is explained here: http://www.geckodrive.com/support/application-notes/step-drives/sub-microstepping.html
Supposedly, it does full stepping to sub-microstepping automatically. And it does perform much, much better than any controller I have ever used in terms of speed and torque.
Yeah the Leadshine I’ve been using has been miles better than the gshield, but hey if it costs 2-4x as much it better be 2-4x better, right?
There is a pot that you can adjust on the Gecko to “tune” each motor. But it is recessed so far, that after poking around with a screw driver to try and find it, I gave up in fear of shorting something. I saw online a guy used a sharpened piece of plastic (like a prison shiv), to adjust his. I may try that as well.
Ah, the old prison shiv tool. Never know when your gonna need it.
Prison shiv is not a term I am used to seeing on the forum. 
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I have a sawzall blade stuck in a home made wooden handle that I use as a key hole/drywall saw, and my wife saw it one day and said, “WTF is that your prison shiv?”
Since then, I’ve called any homemade sharpened tool, “a shiv.”
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Update: The New Z-axis installed. Holy cow what a difference. I can’t wait to re-read all of @EricDobroveanu 's suggestions and try this out.
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I see you have @JohnScherer’s mount as well. Thats a beefy little machine you got there, I bet it’ll cut aluminum like with ease!
Also, I’ve been slowly building out the Y axis ballscrews, I’m just about at the point where I have to take apart the current setup to build the new one.
